Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've had this SmartCam for more than a month now, so I have gathered all the details and tests to write up this review. First of all, I've owned 4 web cams (Foscams and one HooToo). They are cheap, functional, but lack of the good image quality. Of course, like people always say, you do get what you pay for, so my expectation has to be more realistic. I have done tons of research about this SmartCam before I made the purchase decision. Yes, it's expensive, and yes, I never had a Samsung camera before. This is, therefore, a little risky for me, but thanks to Amazon's generous return policy, I was willing to give it a try. Boy, let me tell you, after I've had this setup, I would not even think about returning it and in fact, I'm thinking of getting another one. What I do like about this SmartCam: - Extremely high picture quality. If your bandwidth allows, it can broadcast in true 1080 resolution. - Relatively easy to setup. Power the camera on, wire attach to your router / switch, go to the Samsung smartcam to register, you're good to go - Record continuous video footage for consecutive 3 days (32GB) and can be playback anytime. Auto-Loop SD card when it's full - Send alert when motion alarm is detected, by email and/or iPhone/Android pop-up - Very impressive night vision, super long range - Record footage even when the network is down, since the recording is done from SD card - No recurring rip-off monthly service fee like "Draw dropcam" - Waterproof for sure (had storm hit the Bay Area on mid December and works like a champ when exposed with rain) - Stable wifi network connection through stucco walls and siding, about 50 feet away from base, no drops ever since deployment - Small profile, pretty stealthy if you want to hide it. Yet, the IR lights are clearly visible in the dark so not to stealthy but works as a criminal deterrence. - Free apps for both iPhone and Android - Sectional monitoring area so you can focus on certain coverage area instead of the whole screen - Don't need to setup with DynDNS or register static IP to make it work. Samsung's Smartcam got you covered. Cons / need to improve - slow web / phone app interface. Whenever you click on most options, it takes at least a couple of seconds (sometimes more) to refersh. Argh - Poor customer support. When I called Samsung for some general help about firmware upgrade, the tech told me "just restart the camera and reset everything back to default.. what the.....? - Motion sensor is way too sensitive even when set to minimal when it rains. I have to turn off the alert when it was raining heavy. - No snapshot email notification. When I get the alert, I have to log on to the video playback, to trace what triggered the alarm. A snapshot of the triggered scene emailed to me would be great - Expensive.. oh well, yes, I know I know.. you DO get what you pay for, but it'd be great that they reduce the price point a little bit to make it more attrative Summary. Did I regret buying this SmartCam? Absolutely not. I love it. I want to buy another one soon! I think Samsung can do better on their apps (web based and mobile app) to make this camera more attractive. Hope this review helps, if it does, please kindly rate it. Send me any questions if you have any. I'd be more than happy to answer them if I know the answer. Update: Jan 10, 2015 - The camera appears to be holding strong after the storm hit at Northern California. The heavy rain and cold weather did not cause any malfunction whatsoever - It appears that Samsung has changed the monitoring policy from their web page, that prevents users taking up their bandwidth for live viewing. If you watch the live feed for about 5 or 7 minutes from the web, the web page would pop up a message, saying that the connection is disconnected and if you to continue to view live feed, will have to go back to the main page and select the camera to start live viewing again. I don't like this, but I guess this is how they can save their network bandwidth in a long term. - I changed my Micro SD card (Samsun EVO) to 64GB. I formatted it as FAText (not just FAT or NTFS), plug the card in the main unit, it can now record 24/7 for 7 days before the old recordings were overwritten. Awesome. I will write more updates if I come across anything new. Cheers, and happy new year! Another Updates: Jan 14, 2015 - Noticed that an anomaly took place two days. The camera stopped recording live videos out of the blue. All functions (even alarm, live feed etc) works except recording. I noticed this issue when I was at work so I couldn't give it a power cycle remotely. I gave the camera a quick restart (unplug the power cord, plug it back in) and viola, the recording feature was back in business. No need to re-format the Micro SD or adjust anything else. I don't know what caused this hiccups but this is the very first time that I had to manually restart the camera due to an issue, so, I would say... not too bad. Not sure if this was caused by the new 64GB MicroSD I'm using but it's not impossible. I thought I should share this with whoever is interested in reading my stuff. :P More Update: Jan 19, 2015 - It appears that Samsung has updated their mobile apps (iPhone in my case). The revised app allows me to take a snapshot or record video directly to my phone's internal memory, which used to be a tedious process before. Kudos to their developer. I'm looking forward to seeing more enhancement. If they're able to better their web interface and enhance their apps further, I might consider upgrading my rating to 5 Stars. :-) More more updates: Feb 8, 2015 - I purchased a QNAP NAS a few days ago for my network data storage. One of its features is to have the embedded Surveillance app that can record video continuously on the NAS. I was able to use the app (two licenses) to connect to my Samsung camera as NVR (network video recorder). Now, I can record live videos for however long I want in high definition, and no longer restricted by the size of the Micro SD card. Currently, I'm recording at .264, 15 frames per second in good quality. I'm very happy! Update on Feb 13, 2015 - Someone asked about how I connect this camera to work with my QNAP NAS's NVR. I'd like to give you some idea of how it works. Basically, I purchased the QNAP TS 453 Pro but you don't have to go with the high end model since the lower end ones will do the similar job just fine. As long as it runs QTS, which is their operating system that runs apps directly from the NAS, you're all set. The QNAP comes with two NVR licenses, that you can record live feed from the Samsung cam 24/7 with different frame rates, picture quality, and resolution. Of course, the better the setting, the more drive space it will take but it's really not bad. These are the steps to make it work. 1. Run an app (inclusive with your QNAP) called Surveillance Station. Click the Camera Configuration button then click "Add". It will scan your Samsung (or other compatible cameras) from the network. The Camera type I entered was Samsung SNB 5003. Leave everything else at its default and enter the password for your camera.. Now, this is NOT the first Samsung website password but the secondary password that associates with your camera. 2. Once you enter your password, click "test" to ensure the connection is successful. 3. Click on the "Video Settings" tab, and select the Compression rate, Resolution, and Frame Rate of your choice. I leave everything to its maximum since I can care less about the drive space. 4. I choose 5 days for continuous recording. 5. Click on the "Scheduling" tab if you don't want to record 24/7. I want to record everything so I leave to its default. You're done on this section, and move on to "Advanced Settings" 1. For Maximum length of recording, I select 15 minutes, which is the maximum length for one file but you can choose a shorter duration. 2. Select "Overwrite the oldest recordings" which works just like the MicroSD card in the Samsung camera. Once done, that's pretty much it. Now, your 15 minutes (or shorter) clips will be stored in the NAS's "Recording" folder by date, and by hour. Yes, you will see tons of files but they are very easy to find. You may play it from the built in player (the fastest way to view the file) or you can download it to your computer's desktop and send it to the police if necessary. Just in case you're curious, folder size for each date, is shockingly 1.45 GB!!!!! Yes, it's not 14 GB but 1.45 only, pretty small, huh? Anyway, hope you enjoy my detailed report and don't forget to rate it if it's helpful to you. Update: 2/25/2015 - sturdy construction, really sturdy. - I was cleaning up the gutter of my house, and bumped the camera hard by accident. It fell about 15 feet on to the cement and still functions fully. Scratches, yes, damaged to the camera. NO. This is simply amazing! Update: 3/5/2015 - Uploaded a sample picture of my front lawn. That shows the picture quality. Update: 3/20/2015 - I noticed some folks saying that they're unable to get email notifications successfully. I want to point out that after they put in their Google mail address, they need to authorize the linkage by clicking "Go to Google Page". If they miss this step, it will never work. I have absolutely no issues receiving email notifications when this feature is enabled from my configuration page. This is something to keep in mind. James